James Louis Walker

James Louis Walker: 9/5/1940—7/27/2023 Jim was born in Pasadena, California, on August 5, 1940. His family, Chet, Virginia and brother Tim, moved to Glendora, California, when Jim was 15 years old. He graduated from Citrus High School in Glendora in 1958. He graduated from La Verne College in 1962. During the summer of 1963, he met his future wife, Lynn, while attending the University of Hawaii summer school. He liked to say that their first date was on his surf board! They were married in 1964 and three months later began their 2 years work with Brethren Volunteer Service on projects in Haiti. After working one year with Dr. Mellon at the Haitian Hospital Albert Schweitzer’s Community Development program, he decided to return to college to get an Economic degree in International Development. He received his Master’s Degree in Economics at UCLA. In 1973, he received his PhD from the University of Texas. He enjoyed studying under Ray Marshall and Niles Hansen. His first post-PhD job was an Assistant Professorship of Economics at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Three years later, he moved his family to Reno, Nevada, and accepted the position of Assistant Professor of Economics and Director of the University of Nevada’s Business Bureau. In 1982 he was offered a job with the US Agency of International Development (USAID) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as a Senior Economist. He was excited to return to the country he loved and continued to work on development programs. His family accompanied him and their daughters attended the Union International School in Port-au-Prince. In 1987, his next post was in Washington, D. C. After eight years, he was anxious to serve overseas and he was assigned to Dhaka, Bangladesh. With Nathan Associates, he continued working in development in Cairo, Egypt; Columbus, Sri Lanka; and Jakarta, Indonesia. After troubles erupted in Bali, he was evacuated from Indonesia and returned to Washington DC. He accepted a position with USAID in the Near East Bureau until his retirement in 2012. Even though he was stationed in DC, he continued to work as project evaluator and traveled to Vietnam, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iraq, Israel and East Timor. Outside of work, he enjoyed jogging, tennis, exercising and hiking. He loved camping and boating with the family in the summer and downhill skiing in the winter. He also enjoyed live theater, cinemas and classical music. Jim was a family man and adored his wife and three daughters and seven grandchildren. He was passionate about finding solutions to world poverty and shared that with his family through his actions. His love for travel and adventure was passed to his family. Jim is survived by his wife, Lynn Walker, and his daughters: Kristi Walker, Lisa Dobson and Megan (and Will) Holterback. He had seven grandchildren: Sean and Clayton McKean, Hunter, Ty and Kelly Holterback and Andrew and Daniel Dobson. He and Lynn were married for 58 years. A Celebration of Life gathering is being planned for Jim, August 26th in Ashburn, VA. His final resting place will take place in Athena, Oregon, June 2024.

James Louis Walker

August 5, 1940 - July 27, 2023